End of September approaching. Food supplies running low. Overspending food budget imminent, or....not?I made a list of meals we could make with food we still had. A bit of a challenge, with no milk or butter left, minimal cheese and fresh produce, and not many eggs. But I came up with quite a few things that will be tasty as well as nourishing, like rice and beans, potato soup, pork curry, hamburgers (I'm trying out a new bun recipe!), cozy lentils, and oatmeal.Obviously, we have more food than I thought. I even made coconut pie the other day, subbing watered-down yogurt for the milk! As I considered these things, an interesting ... Continue Reading

Pink. The colour factor alone gives you strong reason to eat salmon.Plus, this fish seems to be swimming all over health media, with terms like "Omega 3," and "heart-healthy" in its wake, while people with a lot of initials in their wake try to fillet these terms so that we can understand them.But to cut the crabapples and get to the good stuff (i.e. the recipe in this post), I'm just going to do a very brief summary of why one should eat salmon. (For the primary reason, please refer to the first sentence.) According to an article on WHFoods, which has an extensive list of references and sources, there are several standout benefits of ... Continue Reading

It takes time to develop your personal approach to real food! Here's my manifesto for healthy eating, plus how I'm progressing on my real food journey.When I was little I had a great appreciation for food, but never worried much about what I ate. Multiple reasons for this: Mom was a good cook and created colorful meals, "worrying" about food was for adults, and the doctor never, ever told me to lose weight (yes, the italics imply the opposite). But as I've increasingly selected and bought my own food, I realized there was more to consider about food than weight and diets, and that I could benefit from a little more research on how to ... Continue Reading

Here's an easy meal to use for a weeknight...but it tastes gourmet enough for a special dinner, too! Get recipes for Vodka Pasta and for Spinach with Goat Cheese.According to tradition, when a Marshall's birthday rolls around, that individual gets the pleasure of coming up with a birthday menu for the day (or at least one meal). I'm not exactly a Marshall any more, but thankfully this is a tradition that only expands with marriage (i.e. new husbands get the benefits too).I've had many years to dream up the most delectable and decadent menus, and sometimes even insisted on cooking all the meals myself. Bacon cream cheese chicken bake ... Continue Reading

Is your garden overflowing with summer produce? This stuffed yellow squash makes a good summer side dish or frugal vegetarian meal! It's super easy to make.Recently, we were given a plethora of garden-fresh squash, and Eric came up with this delicious recipe to use some of them. This would be a great main for your next vegetarian meal. We had a cucumber-tomato-vinegar salad on the side. Even without having free produce to work with, this is a very frugal meal, and is quite filling.P.S. Get a printable summer produce guide here, to help you eat seasonally!Stuffed Yellow Squash
This stuffed yellow squash makes a good summer ... Continue Reading

Ready for more blueberry recipes? The following three blueberry recipes can be made with fresh or frozen blueberries, and involve simmering the berries into a hot concentrated form as a first step.
Blueberry Cordial
The raspberry cordial incident in Anne of Green Gables is quite memorable, and although Anne and Dianna did not actually drink the real thing on that occasion, the name always lingered in my mind as something that would be positively delicious to sip on a hot summer afternoon. One of the first things that came to mind when I was picking blueberries was to make a "cordial" out of them. So here's what I came up with.About 4 ... Continue Reading

Occasionally, I have been pleasantly plagued by the question of what my all-time favourite berry is. Anyone with me on that? Well, after dipping into a handful of freshly-picked blueberries last week and experiencing their familiar pop of sweetness I realized that they are, and always have been, my favourite berry.Sadly, we haven't had the easy and unhindered access to them that we've enjoyed in years past. The blueberry bushes in our backyard are still growing up, and don't provide the steady supply that those at Kent Drive did, much less the bounty of Marshall's Farm.Mercifully, I was tipped off by a few customers that ... Continue Reading

The little store-bought tubs of hummus cost...way too much! Make your own frugal homemade blender hummus with this easy recipe! This easy homemade hummus uses chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, and garlic for a delicious dip or sandwich spread.An odd smell was coming from the kitchen of the old brick Victorian that I shared with 25 other study abroad students. I investigated and discovered a gigantic pot of mashed goo simmering on the stove. Apparently, a group of my colleagues were making hummus.Wow, I thought, when do they have time to write essays?I was impressed, though. I'd never seen hummus made from scratch! I ... Continue Reading

Conventional sports drinks contain ingredients that aren't good for your body. Leave them on the shelf and try a homemade electrolyte sports drink instead--Gingerade!Water is awesome, but sometimes on those extra hot days when you're working extra hard, you need something extra. In this situation, many people just grab a Powerade or Gatorade to re-hydrate. These two sports beverages are mostly water, of course, but they also provide some carbs, sugar, and minerals to replenish your system.Unfortunately, the sugar that Powerade provides is mostly in the form of high fructose corn syrup, which is one of the top ten ingredients I try to ... Continue Reading

Make your own homemade yogurt from scratch with the super-simple crock pot method! DIY yogurt is so easy and frugal, you'll never want to go back to store bought!What's in yogurt?Essentially just milk, cultures, and sweeteners. If you make your own yogurt, you get control of which sweeteners go in, while also saving money. And since yogurt is a nutritional powerhouse, it's a great recipe to incorporate into your regular cooking routine.I eat yogurt almost every day, so that I have good bacteria living in my gut to help my digestion. In fact, yogurt is so good for you that I believe it's one of the foundational first steps to ... Continue Reading

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My name is Elsie and I’m glad you’re here! This blog explores what it means to live deeply in the everyday aspects of homemaking. Click here to learn more, and go here to subscribe (and get a free eBook!).

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